Simba is a 2 year old Shiba Inu who never cared or begged at the table until 2 months ago. We have a 9 month old baby and the baby started tossing food off the table and the dog ate it. That ONE incident has undone years of no begging. Now the dog forever barks at the table when the baby eats. He does not do it around me or my husband.

I can't "ask" the baby to stop - he is too young to understand. I try to grab the food as soon as he tries to throw it.

So really I see 2 options
- Keep the dog outside on the deck when we eat.
- Teach the dog to not touch the dropped food

Shibamom,,lol gotta chuckle at that sorry, i can just see you trying to teach the baby to not toss food.

Most of my dogs i've just trained to leave the room when people are eating it's sooo much easier. If your pupper already understands leave it,,just work on that tho, drop some food and tell him to leave it. hope it works out for you.

you'll have to teach the dog how to "sit/stay" first.....usually that takes care of it...now mind you, I have a daycare and 4 kids eating in highchairs and around a table really make a mess and I tend to appreciate a dog taking care of all that*L* when we're eating I have Brina "go to her bed" and after we're done she knows she'll get a little "table" treat as a reward, we started it by telling her to "sit/stay" on her bed

Melinda thats exactly what we did and it worked well...except we ofton dont drop stuff...no kids here though! Winston sits nicely on his bed or away from the table and waits until we are finished before he eats his food! smart one eh?

"UNTIL ONE HAS LOVED AN ANIMAL, PART OF THEIR SOUL REMAINS UNAWAKENED"
He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.
-Unknown

Shibamom, take it from the mom of a 13-year-old, your baby is not too young to learn not to throw food. At 9 months (s)he has an excellent grasp of cause and effect. It's the first lesson babies learn eg. baby cries, mom nurses; baby squirms, mom changes diaper, etc.

Observe the interaction between your baby and Simba. Simba's motivation to play the game is obvious, (s)he gets food. Baby is also getting something out of the game, some sort of behavioral reward. I'm guessing that the barking, the doggy anticipation or the doggy "thank you" signals are what's motivating baby. After all, babies are excellent non-verbal communicators so they are in a better position to "read" canine body language than adults are.

Once you figure out what is motivating baby, take the "cause" away. Obviously, it will be much easier to train Simba than baby. The suggestions from Aslan and Melinda will do the trick for Simba. My guess is that if you can keep Simba calm while baby is eating, baby will stop throwing food because Simba's not getting excited about it. The communication between baby and Simba will have been severed. Once the meal is over, Simba's "treat" for good behavior could be to "clean up" after the baby!

To demonstrate how to teach Simba the great advice you've received, here's a great video. You can use a marker word (eg, "yes" "good" "right on" etc.) and reward with whatever Simba values. Just remember to withdraw the rewards after each step once he's mastered them. I like the idea that he gets to clean up once meal time is over and everyone is away from the table.

Great thank you so much everyone. I will start implementing all this new advice in the morning at breakfast The only problem with the cleanup after is that the vet has scolded us for his weight creeping up Now I *know* it's due to this food and not his exercise as I still manage to walk him two hours a day!

Here are the updates! At his daycare/play group and with his new partner in crime.

I taught my two terriers "out" when we are sitting having a meal. They go to their spots in the house. When meal time is over my Boston looks at me from the couch with her ears perked, "she's waiting for a sample that is left over" that is then her Q that meal time is over and the two terriers come and clean up the floor. Certain times I'm cooking and I give them permission to hang around and give them some certain raw veggies but when I say "out" they leave. It did not take long to teach them, but I must reward after the meal, cause both give me a look as if to say "I listened where is my reward now" Amazing what motivates dogs eh